DETROIT – The Wings’ only offensive production from their forwards is coming from the top six.

It’s not a major concern for coach Mike Babcock, as long as the bottom six forwards aren’t given up goals and are providing energy while they’re on the ice.

“When you’re not scoring, just don’t give any up and give your team energy,” Babcock said after practice Wednesday at Joe Louis Arena. “Just do good things defensively and everything else will work out fine. Let’s just keep plugging and go from there.

“When you look at the end of the game, our big dogs can’t get outscored 2-0 either,” Babcock added referring to the Wings’ 4-1 loss Tuesday to Calgary. “There’s a whole bunch of ways you can look at it. We’re in it together, that’s the great thing about being on a team. Sometimes guys pick you up and sometimes you got to pick yourself up. We got to be better, that wasn’t good enough.”

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The Wings’ bottom six forwards have recorded one assist which came from Patrick Eaves. However, that point came on the power play.

“We just want to keep improving our game and play the way we do and play with energy,” Justin Abdelkader said. “Everyone’s got to be better and we’ve definitely got to pull our end a little bit. Just keep funneling pucks at the net and eventually it’s going to go in.”

Of the four forwards that have played every game – Abdelkader, Daniel Cleary, Drew Miller and Jordin Tootoo – they’re a combined minus-11.

“Offensive numbers are going to come and go,” Abdelkader said. “I think you can always control your defensive play and attention to detail. You might win some 1-0, 2-0, 2-1 games. You don’t need to score four goals every night. We’ve just got to come out with better start. We might not be a team that’s going to score 4-5 every night, but we’ve got to play well defensively and not give so many chances and so many goals.”

Last season Miller scored 14 goals, while Cleary added 12 and Abdelkader eight. The three combined for 80 points.

The biggest piece missing from the bottom six is third-line center Darren Helm, who’s played one game this season after hurting his back.

“When they get one or two goals ahead it’s tough to score sometime,” Henrik Zetterberg said referring to Tuesday’s loss. “But still, I think getting production from everyone would help too. But it’s almost if you play good defense and win 1-0 or 2-1 it’s better than winning 5-4.”

The Wings play at St. Louis Thursday and the team will go with the same lineup it did against Calgary, moving Todd Bertuzzi back to the second line with Pavel Datsyuk and Valtteri Filppula. Tomas Tatar will be on the third line.

“Only change might come in goal,” Babcock said.

Day of rest

Jimmy Howard didn’t practice Wednesday and his status for Thursday’s game won’t be known until the Wings’ arrive in St. Louis.

“I’ll talk to Howie, see how he’s doing and then go from there,” Babcock said. “Obviously, he’s been getting too much (work), he’s played great for us, but we’re giving up too much the last couple nights so get him freshened up.”

Petr Mrazek and Joey MacDonald shared the duties in practice.

Mrazek has played well in Grand Rapids, while MacDonald just resumed practicing after dealing with a bad back.

“Today was the first time that I had my own net, so it was good to work on the cardio and timing and stuff like that,” said MacDonald, who added he’ll see a back specialist Friday to see if he’s cleared to resume playing. “Every day feels a little better. I’d say by the end of the weekend if everything keeps going (I’d be ready) maybe Friday or the weekend or something.”

MacDonald hasn’t played since March 14.

Jonas Gustavsson (groin) skated on his own before practice, but there is still no timetable for his return.

“First of all I’ve got to be back to where I can do a full practice, and maybe a couple in a row, and then after that it’s just a matter of when you’re ready to play,” Gustavsson said. “It’s really tough to speculate how many days from now that’s going to be. I feel positive today. It was another step in the right direction.”

Short-term memory

The Wings head back to St. Louis where they were handed a 6-0 setback to begin the season.

“The thing is we haven’t seen that many teams,” Zetterberg said. “You know, we’re been playing Columbus, St. Louis and Dallas it seems like the whole year. So far St Louis is definitely the best team we’ve seen and I think they have four good lines, they work hard, they play a good system and they’re real tough to play against. So the same way, they’re fun games because you challenge yourself to be good.”

The Blues scored four power play goals and one shorthanded in the opener. Three of their goals came on breakaways.

“It’s going to be a challenge for us,” Zetterberg said. “And if you look back at what happened the last time we were there we weren’t happy with the result and how we played. We want to come out and be a better team and play a good game.

“It’s crucial every night (to stay out of the penalty box),” Zetterberg added. “But if we take penalties, and we will, we’ve got to be better at the PK.”

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